'A New Day For California': Kevin Kiley Reacts To Gov. Gavin Newsom's Homelessness Executive Order

3 months ago

During remarks on the House floor, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) spoke about Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D-CA) executive order for the removal of homeless encampments.

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Transcript

00:00Madam Speaker, I wanted to share some news out of California just today where Governor

00:06Gavin Newsom has issued an executive order for state officials to begin dismantling thousands

00:13of homeless encampments on state properties and also encouraging local jurisdictions to

00:20do the same thing.

00:22Now this is in response to the Supreme Court's recent decision in the Grants Pass case.

00:28I asked the Supreme Court to do what it did in an amicus brief, that is to say, overturn

00:33a misguided Ninth Circuit decision and give our communities back the power to deal with

00:39homeless encampments and to have common sense limits on the public spaces where they can

00:43be.

00:45It's important to note that Governor Newsom did not join me in those efforts.

00:49He did file his own brief, but he explicitly opposed overturning this lower court decision

00:55that has handcuffed our local community's ability to deal with homelessness.

01:00But I'm glad to see that now that the decision came out as it did and the court sided with

01:06my view as opposed to his, he is seeing the benefits of the decision and is apparently

01:13ordering the state to deal with homeless encampments in as much as it can within its jurisdiction

01:20and encouraging local jurisdictions to do the same.

01:24I know that in my district, we already have had communities that have done a very good

01:29job limiting homelessness within the constraints that they have, but this decision is going

01:34to provide a new set of tools to address the problem in a more comprehensive and compassionate

01:41way.

01:42But then there are other parts of California, such as San Francisco, where the homeless

01:47situation has gotten totally out of control, and at least to their credit, some of the

01:52political leaders there have now realized that they no longer have an excuse now that

01:56the Supreme Court has ruled.

01:58So Mayor London Breed in San Francisco has announced she'll be undertaking, quote,

02:02very aggressive sweeps of homeless encampments in that city.

02:06We're also hearing of action coming soon potentially in Oakland and in other cities across California.

02:13Now I did an amicus brief in this case calling on the court to rule as it did because I believed

02:20it could be a new day for California.

02:23The issue of homeless encampments on our streets, our sidewalks, in our parks, on the path of

02:29families walking their kids to school or going to the grocery store has been one of the biggest

02:35problems facing our state.

02:37It's been causing communities to deteriorate.

02:39It's been associated with crime, with sexual assault, with waste, with fires, with disease,

02:47with many other problems.

02:48And it has manifested a complete lack of compassion for the homeless individuals themselves who

02:57oftentimes don't go to shelter when it's available because they're struggling with substance

03:01abuse issues, with mental health issues.

03:04So this court decision is giving back our communities the ability to place common sense

03:09restrictions on where homeless encampments can set up in order to protect order and safety

03:15and public health while also allowing the tools to connect these individuals with the

03:20services they need to turn their lives around.

03:23Whether that's substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, other forms of counseling,

03:30family reunification, job training, and the like.

03:33It's been shown time and time again that that is the way to help people turn their lives

03:38around and get back on their feet, whereas allowing people to simply live and fester

03:43and all too often tragically die on our streets has proven to be a disastrous policy.

03:49And indeed, it's gotten to the point where California at this time has about half the

03:53unsheltered homeless in the entire country.

03:57So I do believe that this court decision that has just come down, combined with our efforts

04:02to restore consequences for criminal activity, with what's now being called Prop 36, really

04:08can be a path back to sanity and a new day for California.

04:13So I'm glad to see that the governor has at least recognized the potential of this court

04:18decision and I would encourage him to make good on these promises, to deal with the state's

04:25own issues when it comes to state property, and provide encouragement for local jurisdictions

04:30to do the right thing while respecting their autonomy and flexibility to meet the needs

04:36of their community as they see best.

'A New Day For California': Kevin Kiley Reacts To Gov. Gavin Newsom's Homelessness Executive Order

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